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William Burroughs anyone?

Pappawas1975 - 29-11-2005 at 17:00

Having just re-digested Naked Lunch I am now starting Junky......Any other Burroughs fans on this here board?

Puptent - 29-11-2005 at 17:10

I remember liking "Junky" a lot, "Naked Lunch" was a bit of a tough read for me but enjoyable too. I don't think I've ever read other WSB books.

Pappawas1975 - 29-11-2005 at 17:13

No, I havent, but am in the process of tracking them down. I know what you mean, Naked Lunch is a little difficult at times, but if you stick with it, and re-read it, it becomes something else.....Ive only just started Junky, but its pretty good so far....

StudebakerHoch - 7-12-2005 at 04:31

I have the "complete Works" including syringes somewher on the shelf

BBP - 27-5-2006 at 17:03

Started on Naked Lunch today, on the bus trip to my mother... and I didn't understand a word, so I put it away after three pages... bit embarrassing...

Pappawas1975 - 27-5-2006 at 18:01

Quote:
Originally posted by BBP
Started on Naked Lunch today, on the bus trip to my mother... and I didn't understand a word, so I put it away after three pages... bit embarrassing...


It is a difficult read, thats for sure. But once you get into Burroughs mind and way of thinking, his descriptions and writing are a real joy......Dont give up on it BB, once you get through it, youll read it again and again, and enjoy it more and more....even if you dont really understand it! I dont think anyone understands it, even WB, especially in the nature in which it is written. It deosnt take anything away from the book though, even after hearing Frank Zappa reciting "The Talking Asshole" passage, which every time I read it I hear his voice!

BBP - 28-5-2006 at 13:03

Quote:
Originally posted by Gojira1975
Quote:
Originally posted by BBP
Started on Naked Lunch today, on the bus trip to my mother... and I didn't understand a word, so I put it away after three pages... bit embarrassing...


... I dont think anyone understands it, even WB, especially in the nature in which it is written...


That's reassuring...

Pappawas1975 - 28-5-2006 at 13:18

John: We don't even understand our own music
Spider: It doesn't, does it matter whether we understand it? At least it'll give us . . . strength
John: I know but maybe we could get into it more if we understood it
Spider: We'd get more strength from it if we understood it?
John: Yeah
Spider: No, I don't think so, because -- see I think, I think our strength comes from our uncertainty. If we understood it we'd be bored with it and then we couldn't gather any strength from it
John: Like if we knew about our music one of us might talk and then that would be the end of that

.....I know CPIII doesnt have anything to do with Burroughs, but this excerpt came into my head when I read your last post....

BBP - 8-6-2006 at 21:19

Re-started last Tuesday... It does read well once you get into it...

Finished it just a few minutes ago. Good book, really!

Fave bit (one of many):
Quote:

"Convicts and sailors sometimes have resource to nutmeg. About a tablespoon is swallowed with water. Result vaguely similar to marijuana with side effects of headache and nausea... There are a number of narcotics of the nutmeg family in use among the Indians of South America. They are usually administered by sniffing a dried powdr of the plant. The medicine men take these noxious substances and go into convulsive states. Their twitchings and mutterings are thought to have prophetic significance.


So that's why I like to put nutmeg in my tea!

Pappawas1975 - 9-6-2006 at 09:46

Without wanting to sound pretentious, the passages are kinda like paintings within words, if that makes sense? Fuck plots!
Glad you didnt give up on it BB!

BBP - 9-6-2006 at 10:33

Yeah there were quite a number of phrases I wanted to remember in order to use in everyday conversation...

wazoodust - 26-7-2006 at 23:28

Roast beef and mashed potatoes. "She died of poisonous puberty".

punknaynowned - 4-9-2006 at 12:54

Actually Lumpy Gravy and much of Zappa's style in composition comes directly from Burrough's cut-up method. I read Frank explaining that some where a long time ago.
Burrough's influence on media in general over the last 40 years is pretty profound if you study advertising and then think about movies. The rushing swirl of juxtaposed images and ideas are more interesting than the straight linear approach, for starters. Sales people have used the technique in disorienting potential customers. Backroom media shapers use it (albeit in a controlled, systematic way) to steer people's opinions to move toward the topics they want them to. The list is endless.
Of course he was aware of this. But he thought western society was rotten to the core and needed to be broken apart and then reassembled bit by bit, restructured along new lines. Of course he also saw the perversion of the 'cut-up method' by systematic policy wonks as something like Anti-Supermen, in the Nietzschean sense. A book he told many people that he would read every few years was Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". It explains a lot about his point of view:
Protect Yourself, Think for Yourself, Do your thing, but support and pave the way for future generations so that they can have the chance to work for TRUE freedom -- freedom from ANY external or coercive control. A huge vision that's too messy and dangerous for most people to even comprehend. His books, his love of guns, his homosexuality, his use of heroin and methadone are all aspects of this: examples of the conclusions he had come up with. Yet, not an egoist, he lived humbly and was a good neighbor. I consider myself lucky to have met him and talked with him.
woah! I didn't mean to go on like that. but hey, if I can't go on like that here, where can I? :lol::lol::lol:

scallopino - 6-9-2006 at 10:00

anyone who spells nietzsche correctly can go on anyway they want anywhere they want.

BBP - 1-10-2006 at 15:09

Say I'm now reading Dead Fingers Talk. Is it Naked Lunch with a different title? There's some differences between the two, but it's pretty much the same book. :puzzled:

BBP - 1-10-2006 at 15:21

Oh... wait...
Quote:

Dead Fingers Talk, first published in 1963, was the fifth novel published by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs. The book was originally published by Olympia Press.

The book combines sections from Burroughs' earlier novels, Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded, along with new material, in an attempt to create a new narrative. Its plot cannot be easily described.

Dead Fingers Talk, like many of Burroughs' works, was controversial upon its release. It was the subject of a scathing review in the Times Literary Supplement that resulted in a war of words between supporters and detractors of the novel (and Burroughs in general) that played out in the magazine's letters page for months.

The book itself is considered one of the rarer of Burroughs' novels, and despite some reprints in the 1970s, has otherwise been out of print for years.


Wonderful Wikipedia...

scallopino - 2-10-2006 at 08:45

Wiki is great most of the time. Where did you find dead fingers talk?

BBP - 2-10-2006 at 14:14

At the local second-hand bookstore. It's got a lot of writing and scratches in it, and one page has been torn out.

scallopino - 3-10-2006 at 13:26

HAHAHA. i bet that wrecked the plot! :bouncy:

BBP - 3-10-2006 at 14:53

Nah it was the title page... Hope the story is still intact (though I think I could tell. I like what I understand but I don't understand much).

punknaynowned - 6-10-2006 at 23:28

Quote:
Originally posted by BBP
Oh... wait...

Quote:

Dead Fingers Talk, first published in 1963, was the fifth novel published by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs. The book was originally published by Olympia Press.

The book combines sections from Burroughs' earlier novels, Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded, along with new material, in an attempt to create a new narrative. Its plot cannot be easily described.

Dead Fingers Talk, like many of Burroughs' works, was controversial upon its release. It was the subject of a scathing review in the Times Literary Supplement that resulted in a war of words between supporters and detractors of the novel (and Burroughs in general) that played out in the magazine's letters page for months.

The book itself is considered one of the rarer of Burroughs' novels, and despite some reprints in the 1970s, has otherwise been out of print for years.
Wonderful Wikipedia...


I've not seen or read that. Didn't know anything about it.
hmmmmmmm
thanx!

BBP - 8-10-2006 at 14:40

Well it's a nice read... Not sure if you've read any Burroughs but having read only NL it's very enjoyable... but I could imagine it's a bore if you've read TSM and TTTE.

punknaynowned - 12-10-2006 at 22:24

I would read it to see if I could discern what this 'new form ' of narrative might be,:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
never seen it. do you read it in english or translation?

BBP - 12-10-2006 at 23:15

English... that's why I'm not understanding much of it... Finished it a couple of days ago. It's like Naked Lunch without the Steely Dan-scene.

BBP - 30-6-2007 at 21:50

Been clearing out my room. I have way too many books, and finally decided to put all the books I know I will not need for the next 5 years, under my bed. A change indeed.

And in the process I found Junky! Is it good?